Chapter 91: Leasing livestock

“Move left, a little more to the left. Hey, that’s right!”

“This courtyard wall must be firmly reinforced. Don’t skimp on the stone or materials—it’s crucial to do it properly and solidly!”

Early May brought warmth to the air, and within the范 family’s lands, work was in full swing, bustling with energy. The sounds of chiseling stone and carrying timber echoed far beyond, carrying for miles around.

Beside the old范 family house, a new large mansion was being built, stretching out to twenty rooms.

Bricks, tiles, stones, wood… huge heaps of materials were stacked. Two teams of workers handled the construction, making this site the liveliest spot during the day. Idle villagers often wandered over to watch the activity.

As noon approached and the sun rose high, heating the earth, Kang He carried a bucket of tea into the construction site, calling out to the builders to take a break and quench their thirst.

Under the great locust tree, villagers seeking shade saw Kang He and flattered him, “This new house you’re building is spacious and grand—it’s almost as big as the village chief’s mansion.”

Kang He laughed, raised his bowl, and invited the onlooking villagers to drink as well.

Of course, there were always those with sour tongues who refused the tea and sneered, “Kang He, your house may be large, and those outer walls are built several feet high. People can’t even climb up with ordinary ladders. Who exactly are you trying to keep out from the village?”

The speaker was from the Deng family, a well-off household in the village. A few years ago, they had unexpectedly landed a profitable business, and over these years had accumulated some wealth, ranking among the village’s more prominent families.

The newly rich often grew a bit proud and tried to flaunt their status in the village.

But when facing families with even more assets, they couldn’t help but envy. Though knowing they were still a step behind, their hearts refused to accept it.

They remembered how the范 family had once been poor. During disaster years, when their rice barrels were empty, the Dengs had even borrowed rice from the范 family. Now, the范 family was comfortably wealthy.

Actually, their business had started only about twenty years earlier than the Dengs’, yet they somehow managed to build up a considerable estate.

In the village alone, the范 family owned nearly a hundred mu of farmland, worked by twenty tenant farmers.

Rough calculations suggested that just from land yields, they could earn over a hundred guan annually.

They didn’t rely solely on grain farming, but cultivated more profitable crops, like rapeseed.

Over ten mu of rapeseed fields blossomed vibrantly in spring, turning half the village golden. Once harvested, the seeds were pressed into hundreds of jin of oil.

Besides rapeseed, they kept beehives producing fragrant, sweet honey. Even city confectioners sourced honey from the范 family.

They also grew soybeans—both yellow and green—having whatever they needed.

What annoyed others was that everything they planted thrived. The范 family’s second uncle was particularly skilled at managing the land, ensuring fertile soil and high yields.

Their livestock was notable, too—chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits—all raised in large coops.

Everyone within ten li knew to come to the范 family for poultry meat when holding banquets.

Beyond just meat for meals, people bought livestock directly—cows, horses, mules, donkeys. No one knew where the mysterious Mou family got the knowledge to raise them so well.

These were just the rural assets. In the city, the范 family also ran shops with booming business, earning who knew how much each year.

If they weren’t making good money, could they afford to build such a mansion?

Plus, they employed five full-time workers—such a lifestyle naturally drew envy.

The Deng family man couldn’t figure it out. Aside from some occasional craftsmanship, their business ventures just didn’t work. Last year, they tried growing melons and vegetables to sell, but after a year’s hard work barely broke even—just wasted effort.

Seeing the范 family prosper made him increasingly bitter.

Kang He wasn’t angered by Deng’s words. He smiled and said, “These high walls are to keep out ill-intentioned people. It’s not meant to keep out Deng brothers. Don’t take it personally.”

Everyone laughed, but Deng felt mocked and didn’t dare retort.

Arguing would only make it seem like he was coveting others’ property.

By noon, the范 family gathered at the old house to eat.

The hot weather made it uncomfortable, but the newly hired farmhand, Xiao Xiang, prepared a midday dish of fresh lettuce leaves tossed in home-pressed mountain pepper oil, light and fragrant, which everyone enjoyed.

Xiao Xiang normally helped with cooking, cleaning, and laundry, while another farmhand, Brother Chang, handled heavier work.

At the table,范 father ate a bowl of porridge and said, “This house should be finished within a month or so. Five months of construction already, and it’s been noisy every day.”

Chen Peifang teased him, “You complain about noise? People elsewhere don’t even get to endure this much trouble.”

范 father chuckled.

The new mansion was not only spacious but used high-quality stone and bricks for the outer walls—costing tens of guan alone.

When fully completed, the house would cost over two hundred guan. Such a sum, if taken to the city, was no small fortune.

Nowadays, everyone who met范 Shoulin held him in high regard.

Kang He and范 Jing stayed out of the couple’s quarrel, sitting on either side of little Dafu at the center.

The boy had just turned five in February and was growing as tall as a seven- or eight-year-old in the village. Though lankier than before, he was no longer chubby but somewhat slender.

Kang He worried Dafu wasn’t gaining enough weight, so he scooped some minced meat and tofu stew into a bowl. Dafu took a round spoon and said, “Thank you, Father.”

He eagerly ate the fragrant tofu mixed with rice.

He wasn’t picky and ate even better than before, no longer needing anyone’s help during meals.

Kang He and范 Jing seemed unaccustomed to having children around, as if they hadn’t fully experienced raising one.

But children grew fast, becoming more understanding and well-behaved.

They always found reasons to care for the boy—feeding him during meals, bathing him at night.

Dafu didn’t talk much nor cause trouble. One day, overwhelmed, he buried his face in Chen Peifang’s arms and cried sadly.

“I’m not a little kid anymore. I can eat and bathe by myself. Father and Uncle still take care of me. Does that mean I’m not smart? Am I really a stupid child?”

Chen Peifang felt both angry and sad hearing this, comforting Dafu for a while before chiding Kang He.

The father had once seen Dafu’s uncommon good behavior and feared the boy might be slow-witted, even suggesting a visit to Doctor Zhu.

Now he spoke such words again, scolding Dafu—how painful must that be to remember?

She said to Kang He, “You two are still young. If you spent less time on business and had a few more children, you wouldn’t complain about our Dafu being too sensible.”

Kang He was speechless, reluctant to bother Dafu.

“What are we doing this afternoon?” Kang He asked, watching Dafu wipe his mouth.

Dafu replied, “Fifteen will come to look for me. We’re going to help Uncle Mou collect quail eggs. I told him this morning to save the eggs for the afternoon.”

Fifteen was the son of Xu Yang’s family, named Xu Anyan, nicknamed Fifteen because he was born on the fifteenth day.

He was a bit younger than Dafu, but the two boys got along well.

范 Jing smiled, “Don’t break the eggs, then.”

“We won’t. Uncle Mou taught me how to collect quail eggs properly, and Fifteen knows too.”

Dafu then asked范 Jing, “Last time Fifteen came, he saw the newborn rabbits and really liked them. When he comes, can I give him a black baby rabbit?”

范 Jing nodded, “Your Second Uncle always brings you snacks, so giving Fifteen a rabbit is only proper.”

Dafu was happy, putting down his bowl and saying goodbye to the others before running to the door to wait for Fifteen.

Soon, Brother Yuan arrived with Fifteen at the house.

The two boys played happily, jumping and running while holding a small rabbit as they headed to the coop.

They could play there all day long.

Brother Yuan brought a lunchbox of sweet sticky rice lotus root, sharing a plate with Chen Peifang and the others and leaving some for the boys to snack on after playing.

“Dafu hardly ate at lunch and was already pestering to come find him. Not to mention making him nap first,” Chen Peifang said as she invited Brother Yuan inside.

Kang He asked a few questions about what Xu Yang had been up to lately, as he hadn’t been seen for two days.

Brother Yuan said Xu Yang had gone to the county office. The newly appointed county magistrate had summoned all village chiefs for some administrative matters.

范 Jing peeked into the coop and saw Dafu and Fifteen trailing after Mou Dalang like two little tails, each carrying a small basket carefully placing thumb-sized quail eggs inside.

The boys were fascinated, squeezing and inspecting the spotted eggs with great curiosity.

The family currently raised over a hundred quails, which were prolific layers—each female quail laid nearly one egg per day.

With dozens of females, they could gather dozens of eggs daily.

Kang He’s shop sold these eggs well, even better than chicken or duck eggs.

People liked their small, delicate size, and one quail egg fetched a copper coin. Wealthier families would buy twenty or fifty eggs at a time.

Last year, Kang He sold some marinated quail eggs at He Xiaoqiu’s shop and even produced some Songhua-style quail eggs, which were in short supply.

After a while, Kang He himself came in.

He watched the boys collecting quail eggs, then went to check on the livestock shed.

Mou Dalang said, “These days we raise all the livestock ourselves. A few farmers came to look but didn’t buy. Maybe we should sell some at a lower price to the city’s livestock market?”

Kang He saw several strong animals, looking a bit like fools with their heads down, greedily eating fodder. They were the hungriest in the shed and gaining weight every day.

Selling them would be good since raising them long-term was costly. They had about twenty head of various livestock.

Young stock was hard to grow, so selling them would recover some money. The longer they kept them, the more expenses they incurred, leaving less profit.

But selling to the livestock market meant low prices.

For example, a strong donkey might only fetch twelve guan there, but people on the street would pay eighteen to twenty guan.

If Kang He sold directly, he wouldn’t get as high as twenty guan but could sell for fifteen or sixteen, giving buyers a good deal and himself more profit than selling to the market.

Because of this, many farmers came to their place to check prices and bought livestock without issue.

But business was never stable.

Kang He considered whether to sell or not, and范 Jing suddenly spoke, “If you don’t want to sell to the city but don’t want them to be idle either, why not find work for these strong animals?”

Kang He asked, “We already lend the livestock to twenty tenant farmers. Besides that, when else can they work?”

范 Jing said, “Lend them to farmers who can’t afford or don’t own livestock but still need animals for work.”

Mou Dalang nodded, “You might not know, Brother Kang, but almost every five or ten days, someone comes to borrow livestock. Relatives on the left, relatives on the right—it’s hard to refuse.

But once you open the door to lending, it’s hard to control. Borrow from this family but not that one, and people start gossiping. Soon, the whole village will be borrowing from us.”

范 father knew this was troublesome. Whenever someone came asking to borrow livestock, if Mrs. Chen or Qiao’er weren’t home, he’d pretend to be asleep or sneak out the back.

He was alone in handling village matters.

People outside said he was abusing his power, and gossip often reached his wife and Doctor Zhu’s ears.

Mou Dalang said, “If the livestock is lent out for paid work, it’s better than lending for free. People won’t dare to ask frivolously.

If they want to use the animals for work, they pay. We can’t refuse.”

He wanted to discuss this with Kang He but had been busy all along.

Kang He realized he hadn’t known much about such household affairs, but it was indeed a village matter.

“You should have told me earlier. Let’s do it! Set a schedule and price, and get things going.”

In recent years, Mou Dalang had worked hard for the范 family. When Doctor Zhu’s apprentice got married last year, his household expenses grew, and范 family increased his wages by five hundred coins.

He worked for the范 family while Ji’er still lived in the village. There were plans to bring his father over to help with care—things were looking good.

Mou Dalang happily agreed.

Kang He then praised范 Jing, “Our Jing brother is good at business, but you didn’t say a word.”

范 Jing didn’t accept the compliment, thinking he wasn’t skilled in business. Recently, he helped an old man carrying heavy goods by fixing a wooden cart and gave him a ride partway.

The old man said if he had money, he’d buy livestock to work. But these animals were expensive—beyond what ordinary people could save for.

He sighed, saying that renting a few animals would be better.

Renting livestock in the county was complicated; local markets wouldn’t easily lend animals without raising prices or requiring a deposit.

范 Jing had just heard all this and decided to bring it up.

The next day, Kang He visited the city livestock market to check rental prices and details, making clear notes.

He then set rental prices for their own livestock.

By value, donkeys were cheapest, followed by mules (hybrids of horse and donkey), then cows, with horses being most expensive.

The范 family had only two stallions and two mares, the most ordinary breeds. Kang He had found them through connections, costing around twenty guan each.

Though Mou Dalang raised a colt, Kang He hadn’t yet dared to rent horses out; and rural farmers rarely rented horses anyway.

So only cows, mules, and donkeys were rented.

County rates were about ten copper coins a day for donkeys, with variations based on quality, plus or minus five coins.

Mules and cows rented for about fifty coins a day.

The usual rules applied.

For farm labor, cows were preferred; for transport or pulling carts, mules were chosen.

Prices varied based on need.

Kang He set their prices about ten coins lower than the city’s.

Rental times ranged from morning to night, with a deposit of one guan.

This deposit ensured animals were returned on time and prevented mistreatment.

Within days, people came forward to rent livestock again.

Mou Dalang explained the new rules:范 family charged for rentals to earn money, so borrowers had to pay.

Some cursed, “范 family really has money on their minds—charging for dung and now livestock rentals.”

“One wouldn’t have a mansion without money. People have to be ruthless in business or they can’t make money. I borrowed a donkey just to help cut grass for a bowl of grain, and范 family charges twenty coins a day!”

But some reasoned, “You can’t compare outsiders to family.范 family raises many animals, feeding and caring for them, so they can’t lend for free.”

“I’m not coming empty-handed either—I always bring vegetables.”

“范 family doesn’t lack those. They have so much land, they grow everything.”

“Wang Hu’er,范 family has helped you a lot by speaking for them. If you don’t go collect wages from them, aren’t you neglecting your job protecting范 family?”

The conversation ended with ill feelings.

Still, over time, more people rented livestock from the范 family.

Those who criticized them in groups still quietly went to rent.

This gossip didn’t breed hatred; it made people aware of范 family’s livestock rental business.

Their prices were more affordable than the city’s, and nearby—wasn’t that convenient?